A shipwrecked Victorian gentleman returns to civilization years later to recount his amazing
adventures. But how much truth is in his tale?

Playwright Donald Margulies explores the power of storytelling and the shaky line between
imagination and deceit in
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by
Himself).

CATCO will present the family-oriented off-Broadway play, which will preview tonight and open on
Friday in the Riffe Center’s Studio Two Theatre.

“Shipwrecked! is a fascinating story in what it says and

. . . the freedom and creativity it invites in how the story gets told,” said director Mark
Seamon, an assistant professor of theater at Denison University in Granville.

Robert Behrens, a veteran actor who teaches theater at Otterbein University, plays the title
character in the 90-minute one-act.

“I like the theatricality of this story about storytelling,” said Behrens, 52.

“It’s a play about how we can transport our imagination just by listening to words; how
thrilling it can be to take the truth and brush it up a little bit to make it sound more epic, more
beautiful, more lively than just merely stating the facts.”

The play employs techniques that are effective only in live theater, including character changes
in full view of the audience, boats made of crates and drastic jumps in time.

“Margulies allows the audience to use their imagination,” Behrens said. “With a little bit of
suggestion, you can go anywhere you need to go without the need for a realistic set.”

The play is written in the same minimalist story-theater style used to good effect in CATCO
productions of
The 39 Steps and
A Christmas Carol; and in
Around the World in 80 Days, which Seamon directed last summer for Newark’s Weathervane
Playhouse.

“Shipwrecked! is almost like a kids’ show for adults, taking you to fantastic places, but
underneath is a real poignancy,” actor Joe Dallacqua said.

Dallacqua, 32, plays about 10 quick-changing roles.

Among them: an aboriginal tribal leader, a turtle expert, a lady of society, a wombat expert and
a dog.

“You want to build in enough detail to avoid broad caricature,” said Dallacqua, who also
appeared in CATCO’s
The Rubenstein Kiss and in the CATCO Is Kids productions of
Tom Sawyer,
Winnie the Pooh and
Peter the Wolf.

Lisa Thoma, 30, is making her CATCO debut and is also playing multiple roles.

“Several characters appear for one moment,” she said, “and then they’re gone.”

Of her 10 larger roles, she finds the most exciting to be Capt. Jensen, who takes Louis on a
sailing adventure.

“Gruff and drunken like a pirate, the captain is driven by his love for pearls and riches,”
Thoma said.

To make the male role convincing, Thoma adopts a strong lower-class English accent, lowers her
voice and focuses on how the captain walks and carries himself.

“That’s exciting to play, because he’s boisterous and rough and I’m very feminine in real life,”
she said.

Margulies’ play was loosely inspired by a real man who became a celebrity in the 1890s in London
by writing a best-selling memoir about his fabulous adventures.

“But he was debunked,” Behrens said, “when many of the stories were discovered to be
untrue."